New Year, New Things Happening in the Art Room

Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year! I am so excited to be back for another great year at St. Roberts! There are a few changes in the art room this year so I just wanted to briefly touch on them.

GRADING! Grades 4-8 will have a slightly different grading process this year. Instead of ONLY being graded on behavior, students will also be graded on each art project. BE NOT AFRAID. Grades will be based on a list of requirements, not based on talent. As long as students follow directions and complete their project on time, they will do fine.

FIRST FIVE. Students in grades 2-4 will be participating in an opening activity each day called First Five. When they come into the art room, there will be an activity on the smart board for students to quietly complete. It could be anything from writing down thoughts on a piece of artwork to a quick drawing of something. Before moving on to our lesson or project work time, we will discuss the first five as a class.

ARTSONIA. Artsonia.com is a website where students from all over the world create online art galleries. Last year, my third grade students (now fourth grade), used artsonia to upload four or five pieces of artwork.Their families could go online and see their artwork and even had the chance to purchase merchandise that featured their student's artwork. This year, ALL students K-8 have been designated an artsonia account. Every project completed in class will be uploaded to artsonia. Keep an eye out!

BLOG. I will still update the blog as regularly as possible, but I will not be uploading images of student artwork. Because we have artsonia, I will direct your attention to student artwork often via that site.

And last but DEFINITELY not least,

IPADS!! The art room has been given 8 iPads from Home and School. We will be using the iPads for art history and artist research, group projects, art app exploration, and artsonia uploads. I am so excited to be able to use these with all grade levels!

All Other Classes-Update

Some classes are mid project this week and really have nothing to show on the blog.

Sixth grade has been working on their collage profile. They will probably finish these the week after Thanksgiving. We took a little break to make our Native American headbands and place mats for our Kindergartners.

Fourth grade just finished up creating a color wheel. We are working on Native American parfleches made out of brown paper bags right now. Some of them are really starting to look nice.

Seventh and Eighth Grade both have been working on color wheels as well.

Demonstrating Contrast

Eighth graders have just completed a project that I must say turned out amazing! Students learned about value the first couple weeks of class, then used what they learned to make patterns create contrast. Eighth graders chose the first letter of their first or last name and used different fonts to draw it nine times. Students then attempted to make the letter contrast with the background using light and dark values. Here are some great examples that are currently on display in the art room:

8A

8B

Art Room Update 10/10

There won't be many pictures this week because almost every class is in the middle of a project. Here is what students have been working on this week:

Kindergarten just started doing self portraits. They will finish these next week and also do a drawing of their whole body.

First Grade finished their scarecrows and are starting their self-portraits today.

Second Grade started self-portraits. They should be able to finish them next week.

Third Grade started a collage project. I am really excited to see these when they are finished. They will be our next artsonia upload.

Fourth Grade is finishing up their contour resist projects and will finish a silhouette project this week or next.

Fifth grade didn't have art this week, so they will be finishing up their Jim Dine heart project next week. These should turn out to look  very good.

Sixth grade has one more class period to work on their cityscape, then we are starting a new project.

Seventh is finishing up their "yellow line" project.

Eighth grade is finishing up their typography letter contrast assignment. I think these are going to end up looking really cool as well.

Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade

Sadly, I have no pictures of work for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade work because your students are working so hard on completing projects. Here is what you have to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Sixth grade is working on a futuristic cityscape in one point perspective. Many students are understanding this concept perfectly, and others are having troubles. We will see how they all turn out, but I have faith we can get there.

Seventh is working on a contour line project done in watercolor. These will be finished up in the next two weeks. A lot of these are turning out really really great. They may be able to go up on a bulletin board.

Eighth grade is working on a typography contrast assignment. They are using pattern to create contrast with 9 different versions of a letter. I am really enjoying what I am seeing so far, and I honestly can't wait for them to be finished so I can put pictures on the blog. They should be done in the next few weeks.

Don't see your student's project?

Some classes aren't far enough on their projects to post pictures yet. Here are projects that you will see pictures of in the near future. 

2A and 2B should be able to finish their shape robots in class today. I will post pictures tonight or tomorrow. 

3A and 3B will hopefully finish their planets by Thursday, but may take until Friday. Pictures will be posted Friday. 

5A and 5B took their texture names home to work on as homework. They are due tomorrow and pictures will be posted by Wednesday or Thursday. 

7th and 8th graders are starting new projects this week (7A 8A) and next (7B and 8B). I will post pictures of their work as they complete it. 

KA and KB should be finishing their shape work soon and I will be able to post pictures by next Monday. 

Updates for the week 9/16-9/20

Unfortunately, I will be out of the building tomorrow so I will not get a chance to update the blog as usual with pictures. I will, however, let you all know what each class worked on this week and will post pictures on Monday!

Kindergarten-KA did the pattern strips project that KB did last week, then made their cows.
KB started learning about shapes and did some coloring pages to help them identify different shapes.

First grade-Both classes started a project decorating an owl with patterns. We read the books "Good-night, Owl!" by Pat Hutchins and "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen.

Second Grade-We finished our foil shape projects, then began a drawing of a robot using the shapes we learned about.

Third Grade-We learn about the planets in our solar system and practice using oil pastels to make a circle appear 3D with value. We also started working on an "outer space landscape" which includes the sun, all 8 planets, and some extras.

Fourth Grade-We finished our "Follow the Line Through the House" Project, then learned more about contour line, working on a drawing of our shoe.

Fifth Grade-We finished our texture names (many took these home as homework-due next Tuesday!) and started a new project using line to create a cityscape.

Sixth Grade-We have continued to work on our one point perspective names-they are looking great!

Seventh Grade-We learned about contour lines and practiced blind contour line drawing like last week's class.

Eighth Grade-We worked on value scales.

I will get pictures up Monday!

Eighth Grade Value Scales

Students in eighth grade learned about different values this week, and also how to create value using more than just lights and darks blending pencil. Students learned about hatching (using diagonal lines in one direction) and cross-hatching (using diagonal lines in two directions that cross) and created value scales using those techniques. Students also practiced using pattern to create value. 8A did this exercise this week, and some still need to finish. 8B will do this next week.

Here are some examples of students who finished.